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Part of Pearson Lanesfor sale Pg vvïm Members of the boards Page4 'Oinemstop' caire agency criticized Pagel Treatments help osteo sufferers 1 Pge22 1' 4 '4 TAUNTON-BROCK' CoMmmbý'mercial area pla again deflerred BMkeKowalskid Durha Region counciliors continue te, have diffliculty sup- porting Whitby's desire for com- mercial growth at Taunten Road and Brock Street. Regionai councii's planning committe. has again deferred Whitbyv's request te add 400 000 square feet of commercial Iloor space to the Taunton-Brock intersection. TIhe potentiai impact on down- town Whitby and Brooklin prompted committee te table the matter for a second time ealiler this month. Committe. members wili deal with it wh.n the Tomwn' newly r.vamiped officiaI p an comes up for apoa ater this year. Witbvs requeswas after committe. heard a presentation from local deveioper Bill Little and concerns were raised- by several councilors. But as they did intialiy, Region planning staff have again recom- m.nded that Whitby's thre.-part appiication te ani.nd Durham RIoion's officiai plan be appro- Whitby pro poses to add 400,000 square feet to Taunton- Brock while at the sanie time reducing the Rossland Road-Gar- den Street area to 600,000 square fet. In addition, Town council wants te add 100,000 square feet of floor space te downtown Brooklin. According te planning staff, the current allocation of one mil- lion square feet of floor space at Rossiand-Garden in Durham's, officiai plan is "optimistic and not. achievabie due te existing and approved non-commercial dev.iopm.nt. The 400,000-square foot reduc- tion is justified, staff feel, and shouid b. redistributed te other central areas or te a new iocation %t provide the nec.ssary levei of commerciai service te future Whitbyresidents. Aft.r examining each isting central area, staff conciuded that "the. most- appropriate» option was te allocate the floor space té Brock-Taunten. Ajax Mayor Jim Witty, howe- ver is not convinc.d.* "&yeneral concern is that we shoudlookc at the. entire Whitby officiai plan rather than at on. single matter in isolation,» said Witty. "Primanily, I want the overi picture. Secondiy, Tm- not sir how I feel abo;ýut the. whole thing.» An officiai, plan is a document which stipulates preferred land uses in a municipaiity and serves as a blueprint te guide future growth. Whitby approved its new plan last September and it now awaits Regional council endors.- ment. Durham's updated plan was approv.d by the. Ontario government in 1993. Admitting te b.i guhtly perplexed by the hitei Jthe Rossi and-Garden area, Witty said the. corner was initially set at 800,000 square feet and then increased te one million. "Now they're talking about ieavingj it at 600,000 andl moving 400,000 eisewhere," he said. "TMe whole proceas leaves me a littie b.wildered ... It just doesn't se.m te make sens. at this point.» Clarington councilior Ann Dreslinski, a n.wcomer te the planning committe. said she did not have enough cletails about the proposai te make an infor- SE PAGE 30 s: GNS More ch.anges to be made. inbylaw ABy Mike KowaJsd Yet another version of Whitby's iong-awaited and much revised temprary sign bylaw was1 unveilefor public scrutiny Monday.. But after an houres discuss-ion, it was promptly sent bckfor stili more revisions. .Nearly two years in the mak- ing the proposed bylaw was the subjeet of a public meeting held before Town council's, planning and development committee. Intended to improve the esthe- tic quality of Whitby streets and to eliminate potential safety pro- blemns. caused by signe obstruct- ing the' view of motorists and signs.powered-.byifaulty electrical-ý, equipment, the. bylaw has under- gone"several changes since itlast came before committe. in- 1993. The byla.w was first propos.d several years ao The most sinîficant change is a slight modifcation of a pro- posai to prohibit the use of mobile signs., Measures contained in the ori- ginai bylaw could have been in violation of Canada's Charter of Rights, so the. bylaw was tem- porýari selved for further review by planning staff and the Town's solicitor. Sign manufacturers had obj.c- ted te provisions that banned mobile signs and utiiity pole pos- ter siqps. While most portable or mobile signs wiil not bi allowed if the bylaw is approyed by council,. some exceptions h ave been m ade te the earhier proposaI. Mobile signs will be permitted for a maximum of 30 days to, -al advertise a new business.or the. Ire relocation of an existing busi- ness. Service caubs and churches within tii, Town wili also b. allowed to use portable signs.. But an y other moébile sigs wil b. illegai and subject te fies of Up to $5 000 for repeat offenoes. Withi e xceptions, the bylaw bans ahl temporary signe from publicendprvate property such as flashing or trailer signs," A- fraxnes or sanwich boards, and banner signa AlthouÊh tih. bylaw has under- gone many changes thi. past two years, several concerne and out- right objections were rais.d dur- !iCabusiniessman Robin Thompson and bis iawyer Robert Mortein complained that the. byiaw wouid -prevent Thonipson from opening a Whitby plant to manufacture portable sign that are used by many auoobile deaerships around the. world. Thompson now bolds the. North Am.rican and South American distribution rights -for the. South African-manufactured signe, but lie hopes te produoe signs ber. Mmrig approxnnat.ly 46 inches by 15 inches, the - sign fastens to an, automobile's roof and althouqh intended asa "sta- tié'ispey'it can be used by tais or delivery vehicles without fear of fallingý off, Thompson said. But as Morton, noted, this type of sign ' i prohibited under the bylaw. "By expanding the scope of the bylaw to include. signe such as bis (Thompson's), the byiaw has gone from reémoving, something that is .a plague on the comn- munity to somethingr that is quite harmful,"hle said., Thompeop laid ."50 to 70 peple" could b.employeloay f South African officialiagree to manufacture the sign in Canada. But he -would nrot consider ýWhitby 'as a location if the muni- cipality- prohibits the product it produces. .Potential, customers would question the sign's quality if they did not sSe it displayed on local car lots, Thompeon said. Former Whitby councillor Ross Batten also chailenged parts of the bylaw. .Representing a local sign manufacturer, Batn questioned teeffectiveness of the bylaw's enforcement procedures and lack of measures- to regulate main- SEE PAGE 18 A ion. man .scaped with a «substantiai amount7 of money a fe lg up the- downtewn Bank o otreal Monday .after- noon. Police say the. bandit, descri- b.d- oniy as a «scrufiy» white man in bis eariy twenties, approached a telier at the. four corners bank around 2:50 p.m. with a large handgun and demandedmoney. He fled on foot with the. cash and was iast seen heading south on Brock Street. No on. was hurt in the. hold- up. A police .dog was brought in and tracked the. suspect for about a block and a haif before iosing the. soent. ltes- likely thé. scent dis- appeared because the. robb.r got into a cair, says Inspecter Walter Hall. H. adds that, because of the. branch7s location, it's "hi*ghiy un- likely» the. cuipnit was" a local person who would pull the. hold- up1 without a véhici,. An investigation is continuing and police soon exp.ct furth.r developments in the. cas.